winter break at the Lego Table

The Holidays are here. And here we are. Hours and hours every day at the Lego Table. It is rather peaceful…shared connection, creativity, togetherness, intimacy…just what the holidays are all about. The big boy and his pa have been here for at least 2-3 hours every day during the break making trucks. And I am here, too…usually making something out of the pink bricks. And baby girl busies herself finding heads and hats and walking them over to me to put them together for her. Everyone sits on little stools, sometimes in conversation, sometimes in silent concentration and we all make stuff. The four of us around the old train table. If my memory had a camera set to remember the feeling of the best of days with my young children, I’d hope that it would remember these days…precisely because they are so forgettable. These hours are our abundant currency. Not much really happens for all these hours. There is no drama..no melting down…just plain-old grade A contentment…almost boring, really. read more

CarryKindnessForward.com

Hi. I have a guest blogging gig that I’d like to share with you. I am the new Kindness Blogger over at CarryKindnessForward.com. I just posted for the first time…and I would love to see your images of kindness. I’ll try to keep it on the real side of kind…not sticky or sappy…but genuine and honest and hopefully inspiring. If you have any stories of kindness, please feel free to share with us. We need texture…grit…you know…the real stuff. read more

Pin-cushion swap




I attended a fun pin-cushion swap today hosted by the Phoenix Modern Quilt Guild. Look how pretty they all are. I made one of Cindy Taylor Oat’s little cupcakes. It was sort of crooked so I just added some beads and hoped for the best! The last time I made these cupcakes I was in labor. Really. I made nine cupcakes to give to each of the women attending my baby blessing– but I was running late so I sewed late into the night the night before the shower. It was a few weeks before my due date but I was already in that altered state of birth the day of the blessing…and little Lu was born the next morning. read more

Couture cards













Made these couture, hand-embroidered and beaded holiday cards with all of the left-overs from the Craft Rave. I think they are real purty. I was originally inspired by the simple cards in the latest Sunset magazine here…but they were a little too simple so I embellished them. Now I ask you, how does a person make money from putting so much love into a card? The answer is…I don’t have any idea…but it is good for the spirit. Here is the picture from Sunset: read more

Craft Rave






So, last Saturday I participated in the first ever Craft Rave. It was awesome. 200 people came to craft all day and night in an old warehouse. It was hosted by my fabulous friend, Cyndi Coon. You can see her blogs here and here. From 2 p.m. to midnight, participants created make-and-take projects with the fourteen artists there (think preschool arts ‘n crafts tables for adults …but with coffee and good music.) The projects ranged from needle felting (which was very cool and people were so super into it- see here,) to shrine-making, book-making, and Cyndi’s awesome project of turning home-made t-shirt yarn into jewelry and headbands…super cute! read more

Hand-painted ornaments for PCH

Phoenix Children’s Hospital is nearly finished with their new building expansion. And while we don’t want to believe that the business of sick kids is a growth industry… it is. Fortunately, we live in a city that has a place like PCH because we needed it three years ago when our son received a year of treatment there (c h e m o t h e r a p y) for a rare illness. I am grateful to the incredible staff, the excellent doctors and the kind nurses at the hospital every day for healing my son. So when my dear friend and interior designer, Colleen Pawling, asked me to create whimsical paintings on her gigantic ornaments for a tree lighting ceremony and christmas tree auction to celebrate the new building which will benefit the hospital, I didn’t even blink. The title of the tree is Hope Glows. read more

Free Tibet t-shirt :: a song of impermanence



aaaahhhhh…Free Tibet. My sweet, soft Free Tibet. Free Tibet has been with me for twelve years…since I saw the Dalai Lama speak at Emory University in his happy and deep Kermit-the- Frog voice– absolutely incomprehensible to me, though I was glued to every syllable and translation. I am not a Tibetan Buddhist. But a buddhist, yes…a person who resonates with it…a wannabe…a pupil. read more